Team Sky godfather Sir David Brailsford came out swinging as his jersey boys hit their Tour de France rivals with the old one-two.

Brailsford broke cover to accuse his rivals of failing to do their jobs properly after limp accusations that Sky had 'cheated' because their time trial skinsuits were illegal.

One man's sour grapes is another man's vin de table, but Geraint Thomas is still in the leader's Yellow Jersey and three-times champion Chris Froome is up to second in the general classification.

Never mind the vortex dimples on Team Sky's clingfilm, look at the leaderboard.

First and second in the pile. Have some of that, mes amis.

Brailsford, who had been keeping a lower profile than a grouse on the glorious twelfth, rates this Sky's best-ever start to Le Tour – but he was scathing about the bleating, led by FDJ performance director Frederic Grappe, that Thomas and Froome's TT skinsuits broke the rules.

Sky still have questions to answer about jiffy bags and the timing of sick notes for asthma medication, but crying foul over a few blisters incorporated into the shoulders of a cycling top is pathetic.

Team Sky's rivals were annoyed at perceived broken rules in the time trial (Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Brailsford said: “I'm surprised because we've ridden in that skinsuit since May. Nobody has mentioned it. No other team has raised it until now, and all of a sudden they discover it on the first day of the Tour?

“Come on guys, what are you doing? If they are that slow picking it up, they should have a look at their own performance. If another team is doing something new, I will know within 24 hours because we monitor the other teams.

“We get derided about marginal gains, but when it does work we get derided even more. It's all part of the fun, though.”

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Grappe claimed aerodynaic tests showed Sky's vortex bubbles gave Brailsford's riders an advantage of up to 25 seconds at Saturday's time trial prologue in Dusseldorf, where Thomas stormed into the leader's Yellow Jersey.

But Brailsford scoffed: “That's insane – I don't know what wind tunnel they were using. For me, it's quite funny.”

Geraint Thomas is still in the yellow jersey (Image: REUTERS)

World road race champion Peter Sagan won stage three in a frantic uphill finish after the 132-mile slog from Verviers to Longwy through three countries – Belgium, Luxembourg and France – and the trail included a lap of the Grand Prix circuit at Spa-Francorchamps.

Never mind the skinsuits - Sky are really motoring now. After surviving a nightmare pile-up on Sunday, Thomas came home eighth in Longwy while Froome was ninth and GC rival Richie Porte's attack on the final ramp was short-lived.

Thomas said: “It was a hectic finale and we are happy to come through it unscathed. I managed to keep the Yellow Jersey and I managed to keep the Froomey out of trouble, so it's been a dream start for us and it couldn't have gone any better.

“But it's a long way to Paris. I would love to be wearing this jersey in the third week of the Tour one day, but I had my chance to test those waters in the Giro d'Italia in May and that went t**s up.”

Chris Froome and Thomas during stage three of the 2017 Tour de France (Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Asked about those infernal skinsuits, Thomas shrugged: “I just wear the jersey the team give me. I wore it at the Giro and the UCI (world governing body) are happy with it.”

Froome, who will be itching to flex his muscles in Wednesday's summit finish on La Planche des Belles Filles, where he won his first stage on Le Tour in 2012, said: “I think we can expect a very aggressive race once we get into the climbs.

“I didn't actually see Richie make his move today, but on an uphill finish like that, some climbers were always going to have a dig.

“If he's going to take the Yellow Jersey on Wednesday, he would have to make up 45 seconds on Thomas and 35secs on me, and that would take some doing on a 6km climb. We'll see.”